As the Diesel Emits: Volkswagen's Chairman Feels the Heat During Shareholders Meeting

Volkswagen's recent shareholder meeting could be best described as discordant as many shareholders spewed venom at various Volkswagen executives - most being laid on Volkswagen AG Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch. Bloomberg reports that shareholders grilled various executives on the handling of the diesel emission scandal.

Poetsch received the brunt of the criticism with many shareholders expressing concerns of him overseeing the internal investigation of a mess that began when he was the company's CFO.

“You are a conflict of interest personified,” said Markus Dufner, managing director of the German Association of Ethical Shareholders meeting.

The meeting also featured shouting, arguing, and shareholders trying to remove Poetsch as the chairman of the meeting (which didn't happen).

To be fair to the shareholders, it hasn't been a good week for Volkswagen. On Monday, Reuters learned that German prosecutors were investigating former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn and an unidentified executive on market manipulation before the scandal broke. It was revealed later in the week the unidentified executive was Volkswagen Brand Chief Herbert Diess.

Yesterday it was revealed that German financial watchdog Bafin filed a complaint with German prosecutors saying the previous management board should be investigated for how long it took the company to disclose the scandal.

So while the fires are dying down on one coast, they are only beginning to heat up on another.

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My gut tells me we will see a much slimmer and smaller VW after this mess settles down.

I don't think anyone will disagree with this. I'm wondering if Volkswagen will be able to do it quickly.

You think they can wrap this all up by the end of 2017 or will it drag into 2018 and really hurt the company long term.

I wonder what Porsche thinks about tying up with VW now?

The way things are going right now, I don't think all of this will be resolved till 2019 at the earliest.

Then based on your resolve date, then I am even stronger in my conviction that VW will be about 50% of who they are today by that time and could even be free of a name plate or two if it stretches much further.

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The deception happened in something they had doubled down on to make up for a lack of investment in HEV technology.

Now VW is trying to make a wholesale jump straight to EV's.

It's going to be very expensive, and without much fruit at first. But also...diesel days are now relegated to even more niche uses.

Actually in GTA, and I presume all of Canada now, diesel is usually 10-15 cents cheaper per litre, so if you have a diesel vehicle now subject to the VW recall or diesels in general, you're getting FANTASTIC mileage and paying less at the pump. But it's not a safe bet to hedge on for too long.

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